Amid COVID-19 induced disruption, the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) will institute work-from-anywhere infrastructure and expects to save Rs 1,000 crore from this measure, Chairman Rajnish Kumar said.
Speaking to shareholders at the bank’s 65th annual general meeting on Tuesday, he said the focus going forward will be on cost reduction, rationalisation and reskilling of workforce, improving staff productivity and redeployment of workforce from admin offices to sales roles.
“Following global best practices, the bank will institute work-from-anywhere (WFA) infrastructure to facilitate work from any location, while taking care of social aspects of work-life balance.
“The measure is expected to save Rs 1,000 crore through cost optimization and will be a key component of our business continuity during times of COVID-19,” Kumar said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic is still playing out, FY21 will be a challenging year for the bank like any other bank or financial institution, he said. The bank is well prepared to deal with such challenges.
He said the lender has stepped up monitoring of all projects under implementation, and expects to tide over COVID-19 impact in the short to medium-term.
“Bank will maintain a constant vigil on the emerging stress and take proactive action to help our borrower customers and maintain asset quality,” he noted. The bank has already put in place an elaborate business continuity plan. It has identified business continuity hub branches to cater to customers in case of emergency, and business continuity plan (BCP) sites have been identified to support essential back-end services.